Hybrid optical recording discs are discs having a read-only memory (ROM) area and a recordable area for recording or writing data which are usually generated by a computer user and which are recorded on the disc by a recorder controlled by a computer. Such a disc has a substrate which is usually formed by injection molding against a master plate so that the substrate will have a continuous spiral track extending from an inner edge to an outer edge of the substrate. The spiral track is usually a groove which provides data channels on the disc and also provides for tracking of the disc while reading or recording data. In the ROM area of a mastered hybrid optical disc substrate the tracks or grooves are modulated in the form of depressions or pits which correspond to disc addressing data and to disc program data. The mastered substrate is then coated with a recording layer which can include an organic dye selected to absorb radiation from an optical recorder to further modify the depressions in the tracks of the ROM area, or to modulate the tracks in the recordable area. Upon coating the recording layer, a reflective layer is formed over the entire recording layer. The reflective layer can be, for example, gold, silver, or copper. A protective layer, usually of a polymer organic material, is formed over the reflective layer.
The tracks or grooves of a hybrid optical recording disc, the degree of modulation of the tracks by mastered or recorded data, as well as the arrangement of addressing and program data is usually provided in accordance with Orange Book specifications. “Orange Book” is a specification published by Philips Corporation and Sony Corporation which defines key properties of recordable compact disc media and recording procedures.
A recorder, also referred to as a laser writer, is a device which accepts a recordable optical disk and records in its tracks or grooves data stored in a memory device of a computer, for example, data stored in a hard disc of a computer, under the control of the computer, thus forming depressions or pits in the recording layer of the optical disc. Recorders and blank optical recording discs are now readily and affordably available to many computer users. Thus, in the absence of copy protection, licensed software programs mastered in a ROM area of a hybrid optical disc can be transferred from the hybrid optical disc to a memory device of a computer, and downloaded from the computer to a recorder for recording a copy of the software programs to a blank optical recording disc.
In order to prevent unauthorized copying of licensed or copyrighted software programs contained in originally purchased data storage means (for example, CD-ROMS, and magnetic storage media), several proposals have been advanced which have a common central feature of restricting or of limiting the installation of licensed or copyrighted software programs to one particular computer (or a particular hardware) or to a selected group of computers, and conversely to permit authorized copying of licensed or copyrighted software to a target storage means of a particular computer.
For example, O'Connor et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,745,568 discloses a method and system for securing CD-ROM data for retrieval by a specified computer system. A region of an optical disc is encrypted with a hardware identifier as an encryption key. The hardware identifier is associated to the selected computer hardware. The software program files contained in the CD-ROM are encrypted therein using the hardware identifier as an encryption key. The selected software programs on the CD-ROM are installed on the selected computer by decrypting the software program files using the hardware identifier as an encryption key.
Akiyama et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,805,699, propose a software copying system which enables copyrighted software recorded in a master storage medium to be copied to a user's target storage medium in a legitimate manner. The master storage medium (i.e., CD-ROM) has a software identifier, and the target storage medium has a storage medium identifier. The two identifiers are sent to a central site which manages licensing for the rights to copy software products. At the central site, a first signature is generated from the two identifiers which is sent back to the computer user. In the computer of the user a second signature is generated from the same two identifiers. Only when the two signatures coincide with each other can the software programs be copied from the master storage medium to the target storage medium.
Chandra et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,644,493 discloses a method and apparatus which restricts software distribution used on magnetic media to use on a single computer. The original software contained on the magnetic medium is functionally uncopyable until it is modified by the execution of a program stored in a tamper-proof co-processor which forms a part of the computer.
Indeck et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,740,244 discloses an implementation by which a software product on a magnetic medium may first instruct a computer in which it is inserted to read a fingerprint of a specified portion of the product and to compare this fingerprint with a pre-recorded version of the same fingerprint. If the fingerprints match, then the software product may permit the computer to further read and implement the application software stored thereon.
With the accelerated availability of new computer systems having new or upgraded operating systems, it appears that each of the foregoing disclosures would require renewed matching of still useful previously purchased software programs to a particular newly acquired computer, which is a rather cumbersome and moderately complex procedure.